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"An imagined adventure inspired by real-life escape-artist octopodes... The colors and shapes used to depict the marine life create a great deal of personality and visual interest for the background of the illustrations. Portrayals of Inky's life in the aquarium make more use of white space while the world outside incorporates more color, with the final pages depicting the open ocean and coral reef proving the most colorful of all. " — School Library Journal

"Inky is a great companion for family trips to the beach or aquarium. In jaunty rhyming verse, Inky relays his tale, which is based on the true story of an octopus that escaped from the National Aquarium in New Zealand in 2016. Inky lives in a "world of see-through walls" and dines like a king on lobster, shrimp and squid, but he yearns to be free in the open sea. The intrepid marine creature squeezes, schemes and slips from his tank and through a tiny drain hole to drop to the ocean below, where he exuberantly exclaims, "I'll follow my heart wherever it leads. I'll travel far and wide." The back matter includes fascinating facts about octopi and brief stories about other eight-tentacle wonders." — Washington Parent

ERIN GUENDELSBERGER is the NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author of LITTLE RED SLEIGH and writes children's stories and poems. She studied writing at Hamline University and Bowling Green State University and now pursues adventure in Ohio with her husband, daughters, and a cat named Hennimore.

David Leonard began illustrating in the first grade. His goal is to capture a moment in time with gestures, emotions, and paint strokes while reflecting on his own fun, humorous, and whimsical personality. When David is not illustrating, he enjoys feeding his snails and flying with his loving, forgiving, understanding, and supportive wife and their art-directing twin daughters.